Page 55 of Griffin

My heart lurched, and I froze. Was he about to kiss me?

Instinctively, I straightened, nearly knocking over my water glass. I grabbed it, taking another long, deliberate sip, keeping my eyes down and away from both of them.

I knew Todd was already sizing us up, and I couldn’t help feeling like the last thing I needed was a kiss to make things more complicated.

Griffin leaned back, his expression shifting—not unreadable this time, but careful.

The tightness in his jaw eased, replaced by a flicker of something softer. Understanding, maybe?

Even so, there was a shadow of disappointment in the way his shoulders dropped, like he’d already decided not to push.

I hated that I’d pulled away. The thought nagged at me as I stared into my glass.

Before I could fumble an apology or make the moment worse, the waiter arrived, placing our plates on the table and breaking the tension.

“Oh! The food’s here!” I blurted, way too loudly. The waiter flinched but recovered quickly, giving me a polite smile.

Mental note to self: tip the waiter generously. For the excellent timing, for diffusing whatever the hell had been brewing at our table, and for not outwardly reacting to my embarrassing outburst.

“Looks good,” Griffin said, his tone steady and calm as he picked up his burger.

“Pickles?” I asked, already reaching for my fork to transfer the slices to his plate, as I always did.

Before I could, Griffin reached over and plucked a pickle from my plate with a faint smirk. “Missed one.”

I suddenly realized Todd hadn’t said anything for a while.

He was watching us, his gaze lingering on Griffin, his mouth pressed into a thin line.

“I never knew you didn’t like pickles,” Todd said, his tone casual, but the sharp edge in his words gave him away.

“Oh, yeah,” I replied with a small, nervous laugh. “I mean, I’ll eat them if I have to, but I’d rather not.”

Todd exhaled sharply. His gaze didn’t leave Griffin, the irritation in his eyes was clear now.

Reaching into the folder he’d brought, Todd slapped a stack of papers onto the table. “Anyway, here are the contracts you need to sign.”

I barely had time to pick up my burger before setting it down again. “Oh, right. Of course.”

As I skimmed the paperwork, everything looked pretty standard—just a basic contract requiring my signature. Nothing unusual.

In fact, it was the kind Todd usually emailed to me.

“So... this contract—it’s pretty standard, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Todd replied with a nod. “I know I could’ve just emailed it to you, but I wanted to see you. See if you were alright. That’s okay, isn’t it?”

The way he phrased it made it impossible to say no. What could I even say?

No, actually, it’s not okay, and it’s kind of weird that I came all this way for something you could’ve just sent online?

Yeah, right. That wouldn’t go over well.

“I mean, yeah, of course,” I said, nodding again.

Next to me, Griffin shifted in his chair. He looked calm on the surface, but the sharp glare he fixed on Todd told a different story.

It wasn’t outright anger, but the simmering annoyance was unmistakable. I knew he could sense my discomfort and wasn’t thrilled about the source.

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